Design research offers organisations an experimental, open approach to strategy development. A pilot project is an effective way to start figuring out what an innovation program might contain and which methods and approaches are most suitable. Especially at the very beginning of an innovation process, pilot projects can help organisations decide what part of the wider field to focus on, so they can begin building a solid and strategic innovation plan.
Exploratory design research: Open exploration of people’s everyday experiences can often be the first step in a strategic shift away from an organisation’s established patterns of response to needs from existing customers. This can lead to a shift from a mindset of merely catering for customers, to more pro-actively liaising with new and empowered ‘prosumers’ in a complex service ecology. Exploratory design research can help organisations uncover new services and products that are hiding in plain sight among their customers, ready to be developed. The objective is to sensitise the organisation to this way of working so that it becomes a fundamental best practice.
Desk research and synthesis: Nowadays there is rarely a shortage of data when dealing with strategic design innovation. It is making sense of the most relevant data that really counts. Our clients often have several existing reports that could be used as input for further exploratory investigation. We identify and summarise the relevant patterns and trends from these, and we also enhance this synthesis with further desk research to create an informed starting point for future interventions and strategic research questions. This offers new perspectives and enables your organisation to better understand how to use the data as a foundation for innovation, i.e., to understand what kind of interventions could be most productive.
Some examples of projects we’ve worked on:
Discovering new opportunities for financial services
Guiding a strategic innovation journey
Exploring the future of coffee table book publishing
What can we learn from lead patients using wearables?
User-led service opportunities for Sony
You can also read more abut ‘strategic pilots’ in the article Orchestration,